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Wichita council schedules city manager selection discussion; members ask legal clarity on vote rules
Summary
Council members added an item to discuss the city manager selection process and requested background materials; several members asked legal staff whether four votes are required to bring items forward and whether silence constitutes consent under Robert's Rules, and asked staff to provide the RFP and timeline used in a previous recruitment.
Council members scheduled a discussion of the city manager selection process and related local-government options, and asked staff to circulate background materials used in prior recruitments.
During a council-member agenda review, one member said the mayor asked for the RFP used in February 2008 for consultant solicitations and the timeline from the last police chief recruitment. The member said those documents showed a “pretty robust public engagement process on the front end, as well as throughout the process,” and committed to sending them to other council members.
The exchange triggered a procedural dispute among council members over whether a majority, or four votes, is required to place an item on the council agenda for discussion. One council member noted that, under the council’s reading of Robert’s Rules, silence at a meeting had been treated as consent when no one objected to adding an item; another council member urged seeking legal advice to determine which interpretation is correct.
Council members said they wanted clarity before proceeding so that items are not added to the agenda without broad agreement. One member asked whether a formal presentation from staff would accompany the city manager discussion; the city manager said it was not a staff initiative, but requested background materials would be sent and Human Resources staff would be available to answer questions during the discussion.
No formal vote on the selection process was recorded in the transcript excerpt; the item was placed on the council-member portion of the agenda for a future meeting.
